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Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog, arguably Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, was the star and host of The Muppet Show, played a significant role on Sesame Street, and served as the logo of the Jim Henson Company. He continues to star in Muppet movies and make numerous TV appearances. Kermit grew up with thousands of siblings, and has talked occasionally about other members of his family. His childhood adventures were chronicled in Kermit's Swamp Years. Kermit also has a nephew named Robin. Miss Piggy insists that she and Kermit got married in The Muppets Take Manhattan and that they're very happy. Kermit disagrees, claiming that it was just a movie and that in real life, they have a "professional relationship." (Meaning he thinks they're professionals, and she thinks they're in a relationship.)[1] Kermit's most well-known catchphrase is "Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here!" He typically introduced acts on The Muppet Show by waving his arms wildly and shouting "Yaaaay!" (a technique he learned from his old acting coach, Mr. Dawson). Kermit has been credited as the writer of three books: For Every Child, A Better World; One Frog Can Make a Difference; and Before You Leap. The earliest version of Kermit first appeared in 1955 on Sam and Friends, Jim Henson's five-minute puppet show that aired twice daily on WRC-TV. The soon-to-be-famous frog had humble origins, as Henson explained in 1977: "I'd paint the scenery, and Janie would carry it in the station wagon. We made the first Kermit from one of my mother's old coats with Ping-Pong balls for his eyes." [2] In the early days of the character, Kermit wasn't yet a frog -- he was more of a lizard-like, abstract character. As Henson explained, "Kermit started out as a way of building, putting a mouth and covering over my hand. There was nothing in Kermit outside of the piece of cardboard -- it was originally cardboard -- and the cloth shape that was his head. He's one of the simplest kinds of puppets that you can make, and he's very flexible because of that... which gives him a range of expression." [3] In later years, Henson said that Kermit didn't become a frog until the 1971 special The Frog Prince, [4] a claim that made its way into the 1993 book Jim Henson: The Works. [5] However, Kermit's froghood asserted itself as early as 1965, when Johnny Carson referred to him as "Kermit the Frog" on a December 31st Tonight Show appearance.[6] The 1966 Montgomery Wards catalog which featured the Ideal Muppet puppets refers to Kermit as a "fanciful frog". Kermit refers to himself as a frog in the 1968 special The Muppets on Puppets. The special Hey Cinderella!, which was recorded in 1968 [7], featured a redesigned Kermit puppet; his round feet were replaced with flippers, and he was given a fringed collar with eleven points. By the time that Kermit appeared on the premiere of Sesame Street in November 1969, he was a full-fledged frog. Kermit sported a double collar for a brief period in the early 1970s, including in the TV special The Frog Prince and several early seasons of Sesame Street, but by the time he took over as the level-headed but often exasperated host of The Muppet Show, it had changed back to the trademark single collar that he still wears today.